mode
MARCH 2019
£4.95
mode
MARCH 2019
5
6
8
10 editor’s note Hello. My name is Lucy Gray and I am the editor of MODE, a new magazine which looks into the fashion industry from a different perspective. We delve into the careers and lives of people who don’t always get the recognition they deserve. We begin with looking at the season ahead and what trends will be working their way into your wardrobes. Spring is one of the most exciting times of the year for events, so we’ve got a breakdown of the ones you can’t miss. As online influencers become evermore popular and they begin to carve out full-time careers for themselves, we speak to rising influencer Charlotte Rollin about the good and bad sides to social media. On page 8 we look at the history of androgyny and how it is impacting the fashion industry today. We talk to stylist Natalie Armin about how androgyny has influenced her job. Finally, we spoke to fashion photographer, Kaye Ford to get an insight into her career and what her day to day schedule involves. I really hope you enjoy the first ever issue of MODE magazine and I can’t wait for you to see what we have got in store for you. Thank you for reading.
3
mode
this season As we enter Spring 2019, we are on hand to unpack the upcoming trends of the season. Standing out to us at MODE are pleats, colour blocking and checks. So, we have put together some items that we think will be this season’s wardrobe staples.
spring 2019
1. Topshop 2. Topshop 3. & Other Stories 4. New Look 5. Monsoon 6. H&M 7. Accessorize 8. Puma
4
mode
events This season, there are so many exciting events happening. So to help you know where to start, we have chosen our top four events and exhibitions over the next couple of months that we think you definitely shouldn’t miss!
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Bloggers Networking Event An event which allows Fashion & Lifestyle influencers to meet and network.
Explore Dior’s relationship with Britain from 1947 to the present day.
When? 28th March Where? Thistle Hyde Park
When? Now until 14th July Where? V&A Museum
Tickets available: www.eventbrite.co.uk
Tickets available: www.vam.ac.uk
Image: Dako Huang
Image: Chuck Kennedy
Frock Me Vintage Fair Over 60 of the top vintage clothing and textile dealers are exhibiting.
Graduate Fashion Week Get the chance to see the graduating classes of 2019’s designs from around the country.
When? 14th April Where? Chelsea Old Town Hall
When? 2nd -5th June Where? Truman Brewery
Tickets available: www.frockmevintagefashion.com
Tickets available:
Image: Steven Depolo
www.graduatefasionweek.com
Image: Ahmad Ardity
5
mode
profile: charlotte rollin
Images: Charlotte Rollin
6
eR oll
Across these channels, as well as fashion and beauty posts, she openly discusses her own battles with mental health, a topic which she feels equally as passionate about. “As mental health is such a big aspect of my life, I think it felt like the most natural thing for those issues to eventually form a large aspect of my content.” From her experience, Charlotte has found that Instagram tends to become a ‘highlights reel’ of someone’s life so she admits that she tries to balance any staged photos on her grid with some more realistic content on her stories. “ I feel like I would be cheating the system by only posting aspirational imagery.”
Ch arl ott
harlotte is currently a student at the University of Huddersfield studying a BA in Fashion Communication and Promotion. A lover of all things clashing prints, metallic accessories and Harry Styles, she first started her blog when she was 15 after wanting another creative outlet from posting about beauty and fashion on her Instagram. Six years later and not only does Charlotte run a blog, she also has a YouTube channel and has grown an Instagram following of over 3,600. All under the name ‘Charlotte’s Web’. “The industry is founded on connections so I’m so grateful for the ‘internet friends’ I made all those years ago for helping me grow my work.”
e:
C
in
Originally from Cambridge, twenty-one year old Charlotte Rollin first became interested in fashion during her time at college, but it wasn’t until she reached University that she took her passion and built her own following as a social media influencer.
ag Im
Charlotte’s Web “As someone who has body confidence issues and has suffered with acne too I feel like clothes are the one aspect of my appearance I can actively control and I think that’s why my love for it has grown so much!”
mode
BALANCING WORK Whilst being an online influencer may only seem like a matter of snapping a picture and uploading it to the internet, there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes that followers never get to see. Photo shoots, liaising with brands, chasing up invoices, writing and so much more is involved in the upkeep of Charlotte’s channels. Coming up with new and engaging content can sometimes become a struggle with the constant demand from the fast-paced social media industry.
“I try and engage with other creators’ content as much as possible to keep me thinking about what I can do next to improve and grow but it is definitely hard to juggle social media, a degree and everything else life throws at me!” Although she openly admits that her social media accounts thrive on her constantly being active and posting new content, this can take up a lot of time. She made it clear how important her education is to her, especially while studying for her degree. For Charlotte, her University work will always take priority over anything related to Charlotte’s Web.
TACKLING NEGATIVITY
2019 is the year I can get more brand partnerships under my belt as I’m really passionate about creating content with a dedicated brief in mind.”
her future career prospects and whether she could see herself being a full-time influencer.
Inevitably, once you’ve put posts out there for the world to see online, you are going to encounter people who will post negative comments. Charlotte says she’s thankfully not received any recently. “I previously had one message on an anonymous platform from someone telling me I overshare my mental health issues online. I know I’ve helped far more people than I’ve harmed with my posts so I just take any comments of that nature with a pinch of salt!”
Images: Charlotte Rollin
THE BUSINESS SIDE Working with brands is one of the vital parts of being an online influencer. It is a way for them to show their audience which brands they support and what values are important to them. Charlotte most recently was featured on BBC Panorama discussing the negative experiences she has had with companies contacting her. “I’m currently working with the environmentally conscious fashion brand, Nobody’s Child, as one of their student ambassadors. It’s been such a rewarding and fun project to be a part of. Hopefully
THE FUTURE Graduating University this summer, Charlotte spoke about Keep up to date with Charlotte: www.charlottesweb.co _charlottesweb _charl0ttesweb
“I wouldn’t rule out the idea of being a full-time blogger however realistically my social growth has been relatively slow and the chances of it becoming financially viable are pretty slim.” Regardless of what route Charlotte ends up taking, it is quite clear that her love for this industry is going anywhere anytime soon. “Hopefully this time next year, I’ll be happily working in the social and content sphere and blogging part-time alongside it!”
7
mode
the endurance of androgyny
8
mode
A
ndrogyny has been a part of the fashion industry ever since the first pair of women’s skirt-pants were invented. But it wasn’t until the 1930s when actress Marlene Dietrich wore a man’s tuxedo with a top hat in Josef von Sternberg’s film Morocco, that in the years following, androgynous style started to trickle into mainstream fashion. The response that Dietrich received was picked up on by designer Yves Saint Laurent, who some years later in August
W
e spoke to Manchester-based stylist Natalie Armin, who has been styling fashion photo shoots for over 12 years, about her opinions on the rise of androgyny. “I think androgyny is growing in importance and popularity within the fashion industry. Styling allows me to help express who someone truly is or help to create a persona within a photo shoot. In more recent years, I have had a lot more clients asking for androgynous styling as people love to mix both mens and womenswear. It creates a really edgy and modern look.” With social media being so popular in day-to-day life, people
1966, released the design for a suit specifically tailored for women called ‘Le Smoking’. This design made it more socially acceptable for women to dress in this style, if they so wished. Androgyny soon began to influence more people in the public eye, not only actors but musicians too. In 1972 after the release of David Bowie’s album ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’, Bowie unveiled an alter-ego called Ziggy Stardust. A flamboyant, eccentric identity with
long hair and quirky outfits. One of the most recent events which took the fashion industry by surprise was when androgynous model Andrej Pejic revealed she was in fact transgender. Before this Pejic was well-known for modelling both masculine and feminine clothing. She famously walked for both the men’s and women’s Jean-Paul Gaultier shows at Paris Fashion Week in 2011. Moments like these in history are all contributing to the popularisation and rise of androgyny within the industry.
are given a platform to express their views about anything, both positive and negative. Although Natalie is never directly in the firing line for other’s comments, as her work is often done behind the scenes, she smiled at the fact that she only seems to have encountered positive feedback from any work she has done with androgynous models. “The public are a lot more open-minded than they used to be with androgyny. I think with the increase of celebrities wearing androgynous clothing to events like red carpets or in high-profile magazines, you can see with your own eyes how it
becomes more mainstream. I can definitely see within my work that if a female celebrity has been seen on the red carpet in a suit then my clients will soon be wanting to replicate this look.” As new styles will inevitably become more current, androgyny may have to take a back-seat. Natalie argued the case that androgyny will always be in the fashion industry. “It isn’t a style as simple as say a flared trouser. Androgyny can be styled however you want it to be, no matter what is in season. If anything, it is more a concept. I think it’ll stick around for years to come.”
9
mode
day in the life: kaye ford Most people spend their days looking on social media, through magazines or blogs at the beautiful photos but don’t stop to think about who took them and what goes on behind the scenes to get them. This is where a fashion photographer steps in...
K
aye Ford, 28, resides in London and her job is exactly that, the photographer. Kaye first began experimenting with photography when she was at school, she was already taking Art as an A Level and didn’t know what else to take, so when they began to offer photography she decided to give it a go. Soon she realised that photography was the route she wanted to take and continued this on at the University of Hertfordshire. Alongside being a student at University, Kaye gained a lot of external experience with her jobs at Jessops and then found herself head-hunted to work for Canon, where she admits the job there taught her a lot about cameras themselves as she confesses, she is a “right
camera nerd”. Even though Kaye gained qualifications in photography, she largely considers herself to be self-taught, especially in more of the technical aspects such as lighting where she used to attend lots of workshops about studio and artificial lighting – “I still do to this day in fact because you truly never stop learning.”
When asked about how a typical day in the life for Kaye Ford would be, she laughs and explains; “This could be quite hard. No day is ever the same. Ever. The only prep I do beforehand is the evening before where I make sure memory cards are clear and batteries are charged. I always carry spares of these items but the main ones I use I just always double check. The client usually sets the location for the photo shoot, so I never need to plan Im ag e: that, I just organise a Ka ye Fo time with them and then rd turn up at said location at the time specified. Sometimes I can do three shoots a day, so I shoot, then rush off to my next one, shoot etc. As soon as I get home is where my admin work begins and I download all my images to my laptop ready to be edited. Sometimes I will start to edit on the same day but ideally, I like to edit
10
the very next day after a shoot so that I am looking at the images with fresh eyes and I can be more critical over the shots and which ones to keep. Editing takes as long as it takes. If it is just one shoot, then it will take me 2-3 hours, more than that and I can end up spending a whole day editing. I am often editing way into my evenings, so I am trying to learn to stick to a strict 9-5 and give myself an editing day rather than back to back shoot days. No week ever looks the same for me and I slot the editing in where I can. My job involves a relatively small amount of admin, all I really do is log my expenses into my finance spreadsheets. A lot of my work is booked in through social media messages, so I hardly have emails to answer also which seems weird. My favourite part of any day is definitely the shooting itself though! The bit where your creativity can flow and you can interact with your client and have a bit of fun. I’m quite a shy person but when I’m working and have a camera in my hand, everyone becomes my new best friend.” Her two biggest inspirations are Tim Walker and Lara Jade. Two photographers whose work is entirely different from her own work but inspires and influences her all the same. To-date, Kaye’s favourite project was from last year when she took part in the Trek America Canada trip. Not only did she get to explore Canada which was beautiful but she was able to shoot some portraits within these landscapes – “It truly was a once in a lifetime experience for me.”
mode
Images: Kaye Ford
Advice for someone who wants to pursue a career in photography? “Never stop creating. Take MORE photos. I was living and breathing photography. Even when this wasn’t my full time job, any spare time I had was spent photographing and posting to social media. You need to have that passion and that drive to make it succeed as the only way to have a career in it is to be freelance really, and you need to learn to be your own boss.”
www.fordtography.co.uk
instagram: fordtography
twitter: fordtography
11